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Sturr revisits his ethnic roots
By John Benson
The king returns.
That’s right, King of Polka Jimmy Sturr returns to the Mahoning Valley for a show Saturday at Kuzman’s in Girard. With 18 Grammy Awards, the Florida, N.Y., native comes to town with his latest studio effort “Polka is My Life.”
He said it’s his 140th album to date, but who’s counting?
“I just got a bunch of songs I thought were good,” said Sturr during a phone call to his New York office. “On this one I might have come back a little bit more toward the ethnic sound than I have before when I did the stuff with Willie [Nelson] or Duane Eddie or Charlie Daniels. That was trying to get a broader audience. But on this one I went back a little bit more traditional than I normally do. Maybe I wanted to tell everybody that I still enjoy the ethnic style of polka.”
For decades Sturr has, well, stirred the pot of polka, pushing the genre into new areas that at times have threatened the status quo or old school purists. This included recording polkas with the likes of country acts or recording polka versions of popular rock songs.
When examining “Polka is My Life,” you’ll find originals such as the title track, “Come On and Dance,” “Sparklin’ Diamonds” and “Candlelight.” Sturr also worked with other songwriters, including Lenny Gomulka, who recently appeared at Kuzman’s, on a cover of the Les Paul and Mary Ford song “Mockingbird Hill.” In addition, Button box accordionist Lori Skvarch contributed her polka talents on “Make it Sing and “Mt. Troy Polka.”
Still, as much as Sturr wants to cater to the traditional polka audience, he possesses a nagging urge to broaden the style of music to include new audiences. This plan currently involves touring with Trans-Siberian Orchestra guitarist Chris Caffery.
“He’ll do some polkas with us – and he doesn’t play every song – but we do a lot of rock music,” Sturr said. “With him on the guitar, three trumpets and three saxophones, it’s quite a wonderful sound.”
That sound will include covers by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Miller and even Kiss.